Vista SP1 may ship in 2007

Microsoft announces first service pack on eve of Vista release

While Windows Vista is set for general availability next week, the first service pack update for the operating system could also ship before the end of 2007, Microsoft has revealed.

In an email sent to customers in Microsoft's Technology Adoption Programme (TAP), the software giant said it was seeking participants to test and provide feedback on Windows Vista SP1 to help prepare for its release in the second half of 2007.

However, Microsoft told IT Week it is too early to provide any firm date range for delivery, and an official release date will be disclosed when SP1 is nearer to completion.

"We expect the first service pack for Windows Vista to be released in a timeframe similar to that of service packs for previous versions of Windows," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. The first service pack for XP shipped in August 2002, 10 months after that Windows version was released.

Vista will go on sale in retail outlets from 30 January and will also be available on new PCs after this date. The indications are that most large organisations will hold off deployment until at least after Service Pack 1, by which time any major bugs and compatibility problems are expected to be ironed out.

Microsoft has not detailed what changes will be made in Vista SP1, but its email to customers said that "regressions from Windows Vista and Windows XP, security, deployment blockers and other high-impact issues are the primary focus for the service pack", and that Microsoft will work with customers to identify these issues.